A JEDI NO MORE
by Magenta Moonshadow
Summary: The Mustafar Duel, from ObiWan's point of view...


Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Star Wars Universe - I'm just making fragile sandcastles on George's wonderful beach...

**A JEDI NO MORE**

Mustafar.

The air is burning, thick and heavy beneath an angry purple sky. The scorching ground shakes and rumbles beneath my feet in time to a thunderous roar as another fiery eruption spews forth its scalding burden from somewhere not too far away. Hot orange rain is falling, harsh and cruel - a blistering shower of sparks, dust and ashes.

Even from here, above the deadly river of lava, I can taste the acrid fumes. Their bitter poison fills my mouth and lungs, and the stifling grey-black smoke threatens to choke me.

I can see Anakin far below. He still has a foothold on what remains of the twisted metal platform as it rolls and pitches in the molten flow. Again, I cry out to him in a final desperate attempt to make him see reason:

"It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground!"

Surely, even at this point, he is aware that it is not too late for him to turn back - to try to atone for what he has done? To seek forgiveness, or to show at least a shred of remorse?

But when he looks at me, I see the cold madness in his eyes, and when he finally speaks, I hear again the resolute air of arrogant confidence in his voice: "You underestimate my power!"

I know I am a Jedi, but the searing heat, the fury of the fight, the betrayal of everything I have ever cared about - all have taken their toll today. I am physically exhausted and my mind is a whirling pool of emotions. I keep trying to find the calm centre to ground myself once more, but I might as well try to catch a thunderstorm. Like a handful of sand slipping through my fingers...

Again, I plead with him: "Don't try it!"

_Please, Anakin! PLEASE! I don't want to do this. Don't make me kill you. _

My emotional shields are slipping; they topple down like a roughly cast aside deck of Sabacc cards, and before I can stop them, I feel my wild, errant thoughts escape and go screaming into the Force – surely, Anakin must have heard them?

But if he did, he pays them no heed, for in the space of a heartbeat, with his light-saber raised high; he jumps...and tries to land on the cinder-strewn bank behind me.

Instinctively, I lash out in self-defense. I see the flash of pure blue light and feel the Force singing in my ears as my saber slices through the approaching blur of utter darkness...and in yet another heartbeat, Anakin's broken body is tumbling down the black sandy slope.

I do not want to look, but I know I must. I have to...to see what I have done. _No... No... No..._ I feel sick - I want to retch, but my stomach is empty. I have sliced off both his legs and his one good arm. _You made me do it, Anakin! You made me do it! Why didn't you listen? _

He looks up at me, and I see surprise, pain and fear race across his face, one by one. For the first time in all the years I have known him, he is afraid of me. I see him slide further down the slope. He tries to claw his way up with his mechanical hand, but the hot ashes and black gravel make it impossible for him.

I have tried not to show my emotions since I left behind what remained of the smoldering Jedi Temple to follow him here, but now they finally break free. I cannot keep control of them any more.

I want to weep. My aching eyes sting from the fumes and smoke, but the pain of Anakin's betrayal hurts me far more. It is beyond a mere physical pain; it reaches into the very core of my soul and tears out my heart.

So I do not hold back, and I find myself shouting at him. I let the words roll from my mouth, strong and harsh, like a great wave crashing onto the shore.

"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness!"

Yet to my surprise, even now, even after all of this, my voice is edged with a vestige of pity. But my pity is not for the dying Anakin that lies before me on the smoldering slope. My pity is for the good man that Anakin was, and now for the man that Anakin will never be...All his bravery, his kindness, his hopes for the future - the very things that made him Anakin - all are lost. He has sold his soul to the Sith.

I turn and pick up his light-saber from where he dropped it as he fell. I don't even know why I do this. Perhaps because it is a reminder of what Anakin once was - a Jedi.

I start to walk away. And although my instincts are screaming at me not to do it, I cannot help but take one last look back. I see Anakin slip further down the hot, blistering sand, inching ever closer to the waiting jaws of hell.

He looks up at me again, his bright yellow eyes red-rimmed with pure evil. They flare with the golden darkness of an unholy light. The blue eyes that I knew so well are gone now – consumed by the anger of the ravenous monster within. The Anakin I knew is no longer there - all that remains is the mere shell of the man he once was.

"I HATE YOU!" He spits out the words, like poison-tipped arrows, and their venom pierces to the centre of my heart. They cause me far more pain than any blow from a light-saber.

I know that he wishes me dead. I know that he hates me, and everything that I - that _we_ - once stood for. But he was my comrade, ally and friend - our friendship soundly built upon the many dangers we had faced together, side by side. So I have to let him know - _now, at the end_ - before it is too late…

"You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!"

I surprise myself with how vehemently I declare my feelings. Only now do I admit it. To myself. To Anakin.

I had sworn to Qui-Gon that I would train him. I devoted myself to the task, and in time, I too, had come to believe that he WAS the Chosen One. I was so proud of him when he was knighted.

So how did it finally come to THIS? Anakin, the boy I trained, the warrior I fought alongside, the man I regarded as a brother is lost, consumed by fire and darkness. Where did I go wrong? _Qui-Gon, please forgive me...for I cannot forgive myself. I have failed you. And I have failed Anakin..._

The hungry tongues of flame lap around his tunic, devouring everything in their path. Within the blink of an eye, they engulf him.

I can watch no more. I can no longer bear to see him in such agony, limbless, helpless and burning...and to know that I did that to him...

I avert my eyes, but I cannot close my ears. His screams tear out my soul.

Yet as I turn away, I also remember what the Younglings suffered. They were innocent. So innocent... Little children whose pure lights shone so strong and so bright with the untamed power of the Force. They did not yet know the full strength of the gift they had been born with, and yet their sweet lights were dimmed - snuffed out like so many unwanted candles - by Anakin's hand. They were bright beacons of hope for the future, yet he showed them no mercy.

So Anakin is far from innocent, and although I loved him as a brother, I cannot forgive him for what he has done. I am a Jedi and I know I should not feel like this, but I no longer have any compassion towards him - towards what he has become. So I cannot deliver the final, merciful blow to end his suffering. It is not for me to make that decision.

As he was the Chosen One, I will leave his fate to the Will of the Force – for only the Force can determine his destiny. All I can do for him now is at least to try to save that which he loved. My duty is now to Padme, and her unborn child. _Anakin's child..._

I can barely see through my tears as I turn and walk away, leaving him there, on the smoldering black bank of the molten river. I try to fight the unwanted emotions of relief, guilt and anger that threaten to overwhelm me. With the last of my strength, I release them back into the Force, and as they subside, I realise that something, which had been a part of me for so long, is missing.

On the day I took Anakin as my padawan, we began to create our mind-bond. It was unsteady at first, but grew strong over the years, and I could always sense something of his comforting presence there, in the back of my mind. Now I hear only silence, and, in the cold dark heart of this silence, all I am aware of is the pain-wracked whisper of oblivion.

It is truly over.

The Anakin I knew is dead.

_He is a Jedi no more._

** THE END **


End file.
